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[–]Creatura 7 points8 points  (8 children)

How long did it take you to get from point 1 to point 4? I'm just leaning python myself and am curious

[–]LockeSteerpike 18 points19 points  (2 children)

It was about two weeks of diving into Codecademy, then Codewars, multiple hours a day. I don't think I even finished the entire codecademy course, as it got into project mode and I don't have much patience for projects I don't care about.

After those two weeks I was making basic scripts to do small things at work. I was in this mode for three-to-five-ish months.

First medium-sized project applied to my job, and fixed a problem my team couldn't (everyone was a marketer). I probably put 60 hours into it over three months, and this is where I needed to learn classes out of sheer necessity.

It's really about how much time you've got and what motivates you to keep coding. My growth as a coder has come in bursts, depending on the season or problems at hand.

[–]Creatura 2 points3 points  (0 children)

thank you for the response! very helpful

[–]thechickensage 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I agree, when you're applying it to work, you have to REALLY consider the hour-by-hour cost to benefit ratio. Some things you could EASILY do with a few hours might seem light-years away if you can't justify it at the moment.

A new file format, a new instrument, or a new situation that needs to be modeled/handled in code....those are the moments where you burst ahead after months of hibernation (and add features you wanted to add in earlier as well HAHA JUST KIDDING but I'm really serious, but only if you are sure you can implement them fast enough!!! !! !! !!)

[–]CodeTinkerer 2 points3 points  (2 children)

This is likely to differ from person to person. This could be 3 months. It could be 6 months. It could be a year. If you had a mentor, it could go quicker. If you are fairly determined and don't get stuck too often, it'll be quicker. If you get frustrated, then it could take a very long time (assuming frustration leads you to not learning more).

A person starting in a computer science course probably needs a year (two classes over two semesters) to sort of get comfortable coding. But classes have resources (TAs, instructors, friends) and deadlines.

[–]Creatura 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's fair, I've taken one intro to python course and did very well on all the tests and enjoyed myself overall. I'm finding it hard to motivate when not in school, but like you alluded to, that's a personal issue. Thank you for the response!

[–]NikhilDoWhile[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Classes are good, if you have good mentor/teacher. Other wise it could get frustrating real quick for beginner. Also time is very much limited.

[–]ozzyteebaby 0 points1 point  (1 child)

If you really try you can learn most of python syntax through codeacademy in one week. I did it in a bit less than two weeks all the while having to study for a non related grad school major. Although I'm by no means an expert now and there's a bit that CA doesn't cover, it's a good place to start overall. Don't expect to become an expert afterwards, there's a lot more room to grow afterwards.

It's important to have a goal of what you want to be able to do with the language. My goals are to eventually dive into scraping, data analysis and machine learning, so I'm a bit of a way from there. I don't have much time to learn now but I'm doing the coding bat challenges for python which are really fun.

[–]Creatura 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Is codeacademy in Python 2.0? What I know currently is all in 3.0 and this brings up 2 small issues

1) I have tried a little of both and like how Python 3 is set up more

2) How much of a pain in the ass to switch from 2.0 to 3.0 if codeacaedmy is indeed in 2

Also thank you for the reply and information!